The purpose of this study is to examine Samuel S. Hill, Jr.'s analysis of southern culture-religion as primarily presented in his 1966 book Southern Churches in Crisis to see if his assessment of southern religion is still applicable in the 1970's, or whether the religion of the South has undergone change as southern culture has changed. Hill espouses that "popular southern religion," meaning the evangelical, revivalistic, informal, testimonial, conservative religion found in the dominant denominations of the South (Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist), is a culture-religion of the historic South. Thus, southern religion has not changed significantly and in many ways has preserved the old southern culture. However, in recent years the South has undergone numerous changes in mass communication, industrialization, transportation, urbanization, and education. Thus, the question posed is this: as southern culture has experienced change, has the southern religion changed alongside the culture, or has the religion remained attached to the culture of the past? / The method selected of testing Hill's position concerning southern culture-religion was by examining and analyzing the ministries and beliefs of a major influential southern church representing one of the three dominant southern denominations. The church selected was the First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, which is a very large, influential church in the Southern Baptist Convention. / In Hill's analysis he presented numerous elements evident in southern culture-religion; however, only four: evangelism, education, ethics, and race, were selected for this study since these four are more evident, thus providing more accessible data and information for study and comparison. / In one chapter of this paper Hill's positions concerning evangelism, education, ethics, and race are presented. Hill basically states that evangelism is the major emphasis in southern religion, the educational level of southern churches is relatively low, the teaching of ethics is limited primarily to personal ethics, and with the absence a social ethic, the race issue is neglected. In two other chapters the First Baptist Church's beliefs and activities concerning these four elements are presented. / In the concluding chapter a comparison between Hill's positions and First Baptist Church's positions is given. From this comparison the following conclusions are drawn. One, contemporary southern religion is not far removed from the religion of the turn of the century. Two, some changes have occurred in current southern religion. And three, the changes southern religion has experienced stem largely from the transitions that have come about in southern society over the years. Therefore, southern religion is not a static, nonchanging religion. However, southern religion is still a culture-religion, but of a more contemporary type. Also included in the last chapter are suggested topics for further research. / Incorporated in this paper is an appendix which is a transcribed interview with Dr. Hill stating his views on southern religion in 1979. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0288. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74009 |
| Contributors | ADAMS, GENE MCLEAN., The Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 274 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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